I was watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (FN HD) and they featured a diner in Phoenix that made a meat dish called MACHACA.

If anyone has a TNT recipe for this dish, I'd appreciate your sharing it. I have googled and found a number of recipes, many of which look good. I'm hoping for an authentic recipe that someone can testify is really good.

Thanks,

Andy

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"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." -Carl Sagan

I was watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (FN HD) and they featured a diner in Phoenix that made a meat dish called MACHACA.

If anyone has a TNT recipe for this dish, I'd appreciate your sharing it. I have googled and found a number of recipes, many of which look good. I'm hoping for an authentic recipe that someone can testify is really good.

Thanks,

Andy

In the part of Mx. I live, Machaca is eaten with a side of eggs & beans, (of course) for breakfast. We buy it here in bags in a dry form, add tomato, onion, chiles or what ever suits you to rehydrate and it's wonderful. One of my wifes favorites.

This is a basic machaca recipe. You can add to it or take away from it. Spice it up a little by adding chili powder or chili paste. Finish with some diced potatoes for Machaca con papas. You could also make a version of this recipe with leftover roasts or fajitas. Skip the marinade step and the searing step. Simply simmer the meat with the other ingredients until it is falling apart then shred it. Marinade:

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

Juice of two limes

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp chili powder

½ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

½ cup vegetable oil or olive oil

Machaca:

2-3 lb Chuck Roast or Skirt Steak, trimmed and cut into lb portions.

1 Large Texas Sweet Onion (yellow onion) diced

½ green bell pepper diced

4 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

1 Fresh Jalapeno Pepper, minced

1 14oz can diced tomatoes or tomatoes with green chilies

¼ cup beef broth

1 Tb dried oregano

1 Tb ground cumin

1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce such as Tabasco

salt and pepper to taste

Vegetable oil for searing the beef

For the marinade, combine all the ingredients in a bowl then whisk them to form an emulsion. Add the beef making sure every piece is evenly coated. Cover and refrigerate. Marinate the beef overnight in a bowl in the refrigerator. Before preparing, drain thoroughly and allow meat to come up to room temperature for about 30 minutes.
In a large soup pot, heat a few tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat until very hot. Sear the beef a few pieces at a time to develop a rich brown color on all sides as well as on the bottom of the pan. Do this in several batches if the pot is too crowded.
When all the beef is browned nicely and removed from the pan, add the onions, peppers, and garlic to the hot pan. Saut for a few minutes then add the remaining ingredients to the pan along with the beef. Bring to a boil, scraping the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer slowly for about 2 hours. The meat should be very tender and should easily fall apart when pricked with a fork.
Remove from heat, remove meat to a cutting board and shred with a pair of forks. Return to the pot and bring to a simmer, uncovered. Reduce the liquid until very thick, almost dry. At this point, adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper, and whatever additional heat you want to add if any.
Serve with tortillas, cheese, salsa, lettuce and guacamole for a great beef taco. Portion and freeze the remaining machaca in zip lock bags for later use.
One of my favorite things to do with machaca is make enchiladas. Once you have the machaca, its really easy. I like a fairly hot sauce with this, so I make a nice sauce out of chipotle peppers, canned diced tomatoes, and beef broth. Its easy to make your own sauce, but if you are in a pinch for time you can also buy canned sauce from the store.